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When They Burned the Butterfly
In this fierce, glamorous adult fantasy debut, Silvia Moreno-Garcia meets Fonda Lee, with the feverish intensity of R.F. Kuang's Poppy War trilogy.
Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors' migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.
Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight—a girl with a butterfly tattoo—she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian.
But no home lasts long around here. Ambitious and paranoid neighbor gangs hunt at the edges of Butterfly territory, and bodies are turning up in the red light district suffused with a strange new magic. Adeline may have found her place for once, but with the streets changing by the day, it may take everything she is to keep it.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors' migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.
Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight—a girl with a butterfly tattoo—she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian.
But no home lasts long around here. Ambitious and paranoid neighbor gangs hunt at the edges of Butterfly territory, and bodies are turning up in the red light district suffused with a strange new magic. Adeline may have found her place for once, but with the streets changing by the day, it may take everything she is to keep it.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
471 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2025
128 people are currently reading
19997 people want to read
About the author
Wen-yi Lee
17 books302 followersWen-yi Lee is the author of YA horror The Dark We Know and forthcoming adult historical fantasy When They Burned the Butterfly. Her writing has appeared in venues like Lightspeed, Uncanny, Reactor, and Strange Horizons, as well as various anthologies. She is based in Singapore and is a graduate of University College London, and likes writing about girls with bite, feral nature, and ghosts. Find her on socials @wenyilee_ and otherwise at wenyileewrites.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
April 9, 2025
i am writing about home and i am so proud of this book :)
content warnings can be found here: https://www.wenyileewrites.com/conten...
content warnings can be found here: https://www.wenyileewrites.com/conten...
October 20, 2025
3.25 stars
As a love letter to Singapore, this was absolutely gorgeous. As an emigrant, I loved all of the descriptive passages that paid homage to Singapore's people and its growth as a nation, growing pains and all.
As a coming-of-age drama interwoven with gang warfare and magic, this wasn't my favorite.
My buddy reader, Mai, dropped out early on. I don't blame her. This novel ended up being a lot more of a soap opera than we thought it'd be. The pacing is horrendously slow and for a novel about found family in a girl gang, the FMC and her love interest were the only two characters that were fully developed.
I was excited for an urban fantasy story, but the magic here felt more like a subplot or a side character. There was a lot of emphasis on the gang's god and the fire magic/power, but not enough scenes where that magic was really used. No magic street battles. Very bare minimum magical training/mastery scenes. This ended up being more historical fiction than fantasy.
More than half the time, it felt like this novel didn't know if it wanted to be a murder mystery or an urban fantasy. So it ended up being a sort of incoherent mishmash of both (plus historical fiction and coming-of-age). It didn't really work for me. It felt like the novel was being pulled in too many different directions.
There were also numerous side characters that were varying levels of important. This is one of those novels where you're not sure if someone who shows up in a scene or two will be important later on, or if they're a throwaway character. This ended up feeling extraneous and tedious.
Adding to this, it felt like a lot of the novel was full of filler scenes with a lot of dialogue that took too long for the reveal to happen. A lot of times I either stopped caring or almost fell asleep before I finished a chapter. Or both.
The climax was brutal and action-packed. Too bad it only lasted for a few chapters. The reveal wasn't half bad either. (If you're a longtime fan of fantasy, it was a bit of a cliche though.)
I liked the idea of this novel, but I feel like it really could've been tightened up by chopping off unnecessary characters, dialogue, and scenes.
Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for this arc.
As a love letter to Singapore, this was absolutely gorgeous. As an emigrant, I loved all of the descriptive passages that paid homage to Singapore's people and its growth as a nation, growing pains and all.
As a coming-of-age drama interwoven with gang warfare and magic, this wasn't my favorite.
My buddy reader, Mai, dropped out early on. I don't blame her. This novel ended up being a lot more of a soap opera than we thought it'd be. The pacing is horrendously slow and for a novel about found family in a girl gang, the FMC and her love interest were the only two characters that were fully developed.
I was excited for an urban fantasy story, but the magic here felt more like a subplot or a side character. There was a lot of emphasis on the gang's god and the fire magic/power, but not enough scenes where that magic was really used. No magic street battles. Very bare minimum magical training/mastery scenes. This ended up being more historical fiction than fantasy.
More than half the time, it felt like this novel didn't know if it wanted to be a murder mystery or an urban fantasy. So it ended up being a sort of incoherent mishmash of both (plus historical fiction and coming-of-age). It didn't really work for me. It felt like the novel was being pulled in too many different directions.
There were also numerous side characters that were varying levels of important. This is one of those novels where you're not sure if someone who shows up in a scene or two will be important later on, or if they're a throwaway character. This ended up feeling extraneous and tedious.
Adding to this, it felt like a lot of the novel was full of filler scenes with a lot of dialogue that took too long for the reveal to happen. A lot of times I either stopped caring or almost fell asleep before I finished a chapter. Or both.
The climax was brutal and action-packed. Too bad it only lasted for a few chapters. The reveal wasn't half bad either. (If you're a longtime fan of fantasy, it was a bit of a cliche though.)
I liked the idea of this novel, but I feel like it really could've been tightened up by chopping off unnecessary characters, dialogue, and scenes.
Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for this arc.
January 2, 2026
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc.
while i really enjoyed the first 25% of this novel, the writing quickly lost me, which is disappointing because there were so many components that are right up my alley: sapphic, mafias but specifically female lead organizations, a murder mystery, hidden identities, and magical powers.
something with this book just did not work for me, though, which is disappointing. but i know it will find its audience!
i also listened to the audio and the narrator did a good job!
while i really enjoyed the first 25% of this novel, the writing quickly lost me, which is disappointing because there were so many components that are right up my alley: sapphic, mafias but specifically female lead organizations, a murder mystery, hidden identities, and magical powers.
something with this book just did not work for me, though, which is disappointing. but i know it will find its audience!
i also listened to the audio and the narrator did a good job!
December 1, 2025
prepare to be sick of me
July 30, 2025
*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*
I was so freaking hyped for this, but I can’t stand the prose.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the main character. She is, as other reviewers have said, a bitch, and you know what? It’s great. Give me more unlikable heroines, characters who DGAF about being Nice, who have sharp edges and sharper tongues and will burn the fucking world down for spite. Adeline is *chef’s kiss*
The premise, though, seemed to be very simplistic as the book went on – various criminal gangs draw power from different gods and spirits, granting them different kinds of magical abilities. I was hoping for a lot more on the nature of this connection, what makes a god, where these beings come from – and I especially thought we’d get it because Adeline’s connection to the Butterfly goddess is unique. Possibly it showed up later in the book than I got, but the way it was all framed very much made it feel like we weren’t going to get any explorations into that. Which was disappointing.
But the main problem is the prose. Bear in mind, I seem to ‘hear’ prose in a way the vast majority of readers don’t, so when I have an issue with prose rhythm, it’s almost always something that doesn’t affect others. The fact that Lee’s writing seemed unbearably jerky to me – stopping-and-starting, establishing a rhythm only to immediately break it, using word order that doesn’t sound CorrectTM (to me, I emphasise!) – does not mean it will to you! If you’ve never been bothered by prose rhythm before, you very likely do not need to worry about it bothering you in When They Burned the Butterfly. (I am envious.)
For me, it made When They Burned the Butterfly a chore; every time I set it down, I had zero desire to pick it up again. The dialogue in particular rang very false to me, and while there were occasionally really beautiful lines of prose, such as Adeline’s first moments of Sapphic Awakening–
–there were a lot more that jarred, where the writing felt ‘out of tune’ and the phrasing was confusingly clunky.
The author’s meaning comes through perfectly! But that either ought to be ‘sweetly’ (and possibly it is meant to be and this is just a typo that will be corrected before release day – I read an advanced reader copy, and they do have errors sometimes) or it needs rephrasing.
‘There had been cholera outbreaks recently, but you wouldn’t guess it from the atmosphere of the street.’ Or something. ‘it didn’t seem to have gripped the actual place in any sense of urgency’ is just such an awkward way of saying what is meant here.
‘Calling it a shop was being generous.’
I know what you mean, but! This is not the best phrasing!
…so they knew where he’d be every day, then? You could just say that???
If you’re raising an eyebrow at me right now, with no idea why these quotes bother me, then congrats, you will probably enjoy the prose just fine and can completely ignore my critique there! Again, I am jealous of you.
I should also note that I skipped ahead to read the ending, hoping it would be interesting enough that I’d want to finish the book to find out how we got to it. Instead, I found a wishy-washy, not-an-actual-ending ending, the kind that annoys me immensely. Especially when it’s trying to be gritty, which this definitely was. (The author gets points for doing a thing very few authors are brave enough to do, but it’s a tragic thing that I don’t actually enjoy and which is definitely going to upset a lot of readers.) The epilogue is one long info-dump type summary of events that should have been an entire second book.
(That being said, Tor has had a habit recently of marketing books as standalones – Kerstin Hall’s Asunder, Sandymancer by David Edison, etc – that the authors did not intend as standalones, and I do wonder if that’s part of the issue here? Does Lee intend for there to be a sequel? One set after the events of the epilogue??? Or maybe wanted there to be one but Tor only bought one book, so she wrote the epilogue to…? Try and resolve things? But even if so, the epilogue did not leave me feeling like Adeline’s story was finished. Gah, I don’t know. Whatever the authorial intent, the reading experience was not satisfying, and whether that was Lee’s fault or Tor’s doesn’t make a practical difference, in the end.)
So…yeah. Sigh. DNF. Lots of other early reviewers have loved this, and I would like When They Burned the Butterfly to do well because I want to see more characters like Adeline! But I won’t be finishing this one.
I was so freaking hyped for this, but I can’t stand the prose.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the main character. She is, as other reviewers have said, a bitch, and you know what? It’s great. Give me more unlikable heroines, characters who DGAF about being Nice, who have sharp edges and sharper tongues and will burn the fucking world down for spite. Adeline is *chef’s kiss*
The premise, though, seemed to be very simplistic as the book went on – various criminal gangs draw power from different gods and spirits, granting them different kinds of magical abilities. I was hoping for a lot more on the nature of this connection, what makes a god, where these beings come from – and I especially thought we’d get it because Adeline’s connection to the Butterfly goddess is unique. Possibly it showed up later in the book than I got, but the way it was all framed very much made it feel like we weren’t going to get any explorations into that. Which was disappointing.
But the main problem is the prose. Bear in mind, I seem to ‘hear’ prose in a way the vast majority of readers don’t, so when I have an issue with prose rhythm, it’s almost always something that doesn’t affect others. The fact that Lee’s writing seemed unbearably jerky to me – stopping-and-starting, establishing a rhythm only to immediately break it, using word order that doesn’t sound CorrectTM (to me, I emphasise!) – does not mean it will to you! If you’ve never been bothered by prose rhythm before, you very likely do not need to worry about it bothering you in When They Burned the Butterfly. (I am envious.)
For me, it made When They Burned the Butterfly a chore; every time I set it down, I had zero desire to pick it up again. The dialogue in particular rang very false to me, and while there were occasionally really beautiful lines of prose, such as Adeline’s first moments of Sapphic Awakening–
And she had another something whose articulation was formless on Adeline’s teeth, tart and vivid enough to strike the nerves in her gums, something essential she was gnawing at that wasn’t yet solid enough to spit out. But it turned Adeline’s throat dry and scraped her insides with a terrifying hunger.
–there were a lot more that jarred, where the writing felt ‘out of tune’ and the phrasing was confusingly clunky.
The street constantly smelled sweet of burning chrysanthemums.
The author’s meaning comes through perfectly! But that either ought to be ‘sweetly’ (and possibly it is meant to be and this is just a typo that will be corrected before release day – I read an advanced reader copy, and they do have errors sometimes) or it needs rephrasing.
There had been cholera outbreaks recently, but it didn’t seem to have gripped the actual place in any sense of urgency.
‘There had been cholera outbreaks recently, but you wouldn’t guess it from the atmosphere of the street.’ Or something. ‘it didn’t seem to have gripped the actual place in any sense of urgency’ is just such an awkward way of saying what is meant here.
At least, a shop was a generous name.
‘Calling it a shop was being generous.’
Tragedy could fuel revenge with the right conditions to move it along.
I know what you mean, but! This is not the best phrasing!
which also meant they knew exactly where he would be on days of the week.
…so they knew where he’d be every day, then? You could just say that???
If you’re raising an eyebrow at me right now, with no idea why these quotes bother me, then congrats, you will probably enjoy the prose just fine and can completely ignore my critique there! Again, I am jealous of you.
I should also note that I skipped ahead to read the ending, hoping it would be interesting enough that I’d want to finish the book to find out how we got to it. Instead, I found a wishy-washy, not-an-actual-ending ending, the kind that annoys me immensely. Especially when it’s trying to be gritty, which this definitely was. (The author gets points for doing a thing very few authors are brave enough to do, but it’s a tragic thing that I don’t actually enjoy and which is definitely going to upset a lot of readers.) The epilogue is one long info-dump type summary of events that should have been an entire second book.
(That being said, Tor has had a habit recently of marketing books as standalones – Kerstin Hall’s Asunder, Sandymancer by David Edison, etc – that the authors did not intend as standalones, and I do wonder if that’s part of the issue here? Does Lee intend for there to be a sequel? One set after the events of the epilogue??? Or maybe wanted there to be one but Tor only bought one book, so she wrote the epilogue to…? Try and resolve things? But even if so, the epilogue did not leave me feeling like Adeline’s story was finished. Gah, I don’t know. Whatever the authorial intent, the reading experience was not satisfying, and whether that was Lee’s fault or Tor’s doesn’t make a practical difference, in the end.)
So…yeah. Sigh. DNF. Lots of other early reviewers have loved this, and I would like When They Burned the Butterfly to do well because I want to see more characters like Adeline! But I won’t be finishing this one.
October 11, 2025
need to gather my thoughts …. all i can say for now is that im disappointed 🥲
May 23, 2025
The premise sounded so promising, and the cover is absolutely gorgeous. But the writing style was so tedious, and basically, all I wanted was to get to the ending.
January 1, 2026
4 Stars
I am in love with the concept and details of this story. It’s more than just a girl with supernatural abilities. I am in awe of the author’s massive undertaking mashing up gods, gangs, lifestyle and culture of Singapore in the 70’s and ultimately presenting this convoluted web of feud and revenge led by young women.
Sapphic mafia? Try Asian gangs who are god-touched. I mean, can you get any more hardcore than that? The story is not for the weak. Not just in terms of violence but also keeping track of the massive web of connections and puzzle pieces the reader have to fit together to end up with an unsettling cohesive tapestry of history, crime thriller, horror and fantasy. The author did not shy away or censor readers from the truths when one deals with the underbelly of society. However, it also wasn’t exploited just for shock value but rather weaved in pretty much in a deadpan way that feelings have to catch up with brain process while reading.
This year’s sapphic book releases are proving to be better than ever. New and old authors are pushing the boundaries and creating something fresh and exciting out of the ordinary genres. When They Burned The Butterfly is on of those stand out books for me this year.
I am in love with the concept and details of this story. It’s more than just a girl with supernatural abilities. I am in awe of the author’s massive undertaking mashing up gods, gangs, lifestyle and culture of Singapore in the 70’s and ultimately presenting this convoluted web of feud and revenge led by young women.
Sapphic mafia? Try Asian gangs who are god-touched. I mean, can you get any more hardcore than that? The story is not for the weak. Not just in terms of violence but also keeping track of the massive web of connections and puzzle pieces the reader have to fit together to end up with an unsettling cohesive tapestry of history, crime thriller, horror and fantasy. The author did not shy away or censor readers from the truths when one deals with the underbelly of society. However, it also wasn’t exploited just for shock value but rather weaved in pretty much in a deadpan way that feelings have to catch up with brain process while reading.
This year’s sapphic book releases are proving to be better than ever. New and old authors are pushing the boundaries and creating something fresh and exciting out of the ordinary genres. When They Burned The Butterfly is on of those stand out books for me this year.
October 3, 2025
3.5 (rounded up)
When They Burned the Butterfly is a sapphic historical fantasy set in a newly independent Singapore in the 1970s. Adeline Siow, a girl who has always had the power of fire in the palm of her head, finds herself thrown into a world of gods and gangs all fighting for power in a rapidly industrializing city after the mysterious death of her mom.
I absolutely adored Wen-yi Lee’s debut, The Dark We Know, and there was so many elements of this one I really enjoyed (that premise sounded so amazing) that I thought would be an immediate 5 star read for me. Unfortunately, and it really pains me say this because I really loved the writing in TDWK, some of the prose, particularly in the first third of the book, was a bit clunky and repetitive which made it quite hard to fully get into the world and the narrative. There where insertions of world-building and snippets of conversations that, rather than making me feel immersed into the narrative, actually took me out of it a bit. However, I will say after the halfway mark, this picks up immensely and I found myself really loving the characters and especially Adeline’s relationship with Tian. I was absolutely spellbound by the story until the very end from that point onwards, it was just unfortunate that the beginning took perhaps bit too much time getting there.
All in all, Wen-yi Lee does craft a really beautiful commentary on power, corruption and the oftentimes hidden impacts of colonialism rooted in South East Asian history and folklore, and I would be very excited to pick up her next book!
Thank you to Tor Books for this e-arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
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oh I can’t wait to devour this because I loved the author’s debut
8/3/25: omg we have a cover and it is absolutely stunning!!
When They Burned the Butterfly is a sapphic historical fantasy set in a newly independent Singapore in the 1970s. Adeline Siow, a girl who has always had the power of fire in the palm of her head, finds herself thrown into a world of gods and gangs all fighting for power in a rapidly industrializing city after the mysterious death of her mom.
I absolutely adored Wen-yi Lee’s debut, The Dark We Know, and there was so many elements of this one I really enjoyed (that premise sounded so amazing) that I thought would be an immediate 5 star read for me. Unfortunately, and it really pains me say this because I really loved the writing in TDWK, some of the prose, particularly in the first third of the book, was a bit clunky and repetitive which made it quite hard to fully get into the world and the narrative. There where insertions of world-building and snippets of conversations that, rather than making me feel immersed into the narrative, actually took me out of it a bit. However, I will say after the halfway mark, this picks up immensely and I found myself really loving the characters and especially Adeline’s relationship with Tian. I was absolutely spellbound by the story until the very end from that point onwards, it was just unfortunate that the beginning took perhaps bit too much time getting there.
All in all, Wen-yi Lee does craft a really beautiful commentary on power, corruption and the oftentimes hidden impacts of colonialism rooted in South East Asian history and folklore, and I would be very excited to pick up her next book!
Thank you to Tor Books for this e-arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
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oh I can’t wait to devour this because I loved the author’s debut
8/3/25: omg we have a cover and it is absolutely stunning!!
May 20, 2025
just an absolute banger from start to finish
March 16, 2026
Oh god. Okay I'm sorry I wanted to four star this so bad, I was like "grade inflation is legal if you're gay" but unfortunately I caught a THIRD TYPO and look. I can't four star a book that appears to be unedited save the first and last 5 chapters or so.
THE FIRST AND LAST FIVE CHAPTERS ARE GOOD. But the rest of it? Oh boy. I mean, first of all, this is YA, it's long and gory YA but still YA, these are not really adults having adult emotions in any meaningful sense.
Adeline is a sketch of a character more than a well thought out person, same with Tian, and they are the best developed characters by far. The enormous, sagging middle contains chapter after chapter of "intrigue" which is mostly just action scenes and lists of names and astonishingly clumsily woven together plot points, repetitive exposition, and dead, slogging prose. I honestly don't know if this is a fanfic-training problem or a bored-and-struggling-author problem but absolutely nothing coalesced, not the girls' relationships nor their girlhood-and-revenge themes nor Adeline and Tian's romance (side note: I will cop to being tired of this tepid "how do you even depict desire idk just tell the reader the sex was really hot" dramatic-sad-ending iteration of butch/femme lmfaoooooooo in my head it's futch4butch and I won't be told otherwise - but I probably would have loved it if it were better written!). It is a testament to the parts that ARE good that I still finished this within a day, but to be honest part of the issue is that the stuff that's bad is so flat it's extremely easy to get through.
This is a fixable problem. Superfluous plot bullshit could've been cut, the prose could've been tightened up. It's not like A Memory Called Empire where I don't think the juice would be worth the squeeze. If the second book was out right now I'd read it, despite being profoundly annoyed with the middle of this one, because the end really was that bitch! But, like, fixing it requires an editor. With a brain. And if those sorts of editors exist at Tor, none of them so much as glanced at this book.
God wept. I guess Miss Butterfly does too.
THE FIRST AND LAST FIVE CHAPTERS ARE GOOD. But the rest of it? Oh boy. I mean, first of all, this is YA, it's long and gory YA but still YA, these are not really adults having adult emotions in any meaningful sense.
Adeline is a sketch of a character more than a well thought out person, same with Tian, and they are the best developed characters by far. The enormous, sagging middle contains chapter after chapter of "intrigue" which is mostly just action scenes and lists of names and astonishingly clumsily woven together plot points, repetitive exposition, and dead, slogging prose. I honestly don't know if this is a fanfic-training problem or a bored-and-struggling-author problem but absolutely nothing coalesced, not the girls' relationships nor their girlhood-and-revenge themes nor Adeline and Tian's romance (side note: I will cop to being tired of this tepid "how do you even depict desire idk just tell the reader the sex was really hot" dramatic-sad-ending iteration of butch/femme lmfaoooooooo in my head it's futch4butch and I won't be told otherwise - but I probably would have loved it if it were better written!). It is a testament to the parts that ARE good that I still finished this within a day, but to be honest part of the issue is that the stuff that's bad is so flat it's extremely easy to get through.
This is a fixable problem. Superfluous plot bullshit could've been cut, the prose could've been tightened up. It's not like A Memory Called Empire where I don't think the juice would be worth the squeeze. If the second book was out right now I'd read it, despite being profoundly annoyed with the middle of this one, because the end really was that bitch! But, like, fixing it requires an editor. With a brain. And if those sorts of editors exist at Tor, none of them so much as glanced at this book.
God wept. I guess Miss Butterfly does too.
Did not finish
December 5, 2025DNF @ 23%
DNF, but a soft DNF—i may pick this one up again later, but it isn’t grabbing me right now and i have to force myself to read even a few pages at a time.
DNF, but a soft DNF—i may pick this one up again later, but it isn’t grabbing me right now and i have to force myself to read even a few pages at a time.
Want to read
April 18, 2025gangs and magic in the turn of a city’s industrialization? precarious power balances and a volatile criminal underbelly? women taking vengeance on the men that abused them?
this is sounding like the perfect book for a six of crows fan like myself—i mean that in the best way. this doesn’t sound like a cheap copy but like something unique with a world that’s wholly refreshing and an intriguing murder mystery premise.
and it’s sapphic. 😫
this is sounding like the perfect book for a six of crows fan like myself—i mean that in the best way. this doesn’t sound like a cheap copy but like something unique with a world that’s wholly refreshing and an intriguing murder mystery premise.
and it’s sapphic. 😫
December 7, 2025
Review originally on JamReads
When They Burned the Butterfly is the first novel in the historical inspired fantasy series The Butterfly Duet, written by Wen-yi Lee, published by TOR. A novel that serves as a love letter to Singapore, taking the reader to the 70s, just after the end of the colonization, portraying the growing pains of a nation and its people; a setting that serves as the perfect scenario to an intense story of sapphic romance, street gangs and a vast underworld of selfish gods giving their support to those gangs.
Adeline, a lone Singaporean schoolgirl, can summon flames to her fingertips; a power whose scope she doesn't realize until her mother is killed in a home blaze. Searching for revenge, she discovers her mother was the leader of a girl gang called Red Butterfly; she soon immerses herself in it, passing from the world of rules and homework that was school to the dangerous gang world of Singapore's red-light district. A tumultuous time, as the power equilibrium is changing, and the existence of many gangs is threatened; they must navigate it while trying to get revenge.
In terms of characterization, much of the weight is put on the own Adeline. I personally enjoyed how she becomes ruthless, adapting to a new life, and also hardening as it is needed; but there's also space for a more human Adeline, and that's partly related to her bond with Ang Tian. She quickly becomes close to her, and the romance arises quite naturally; it's not devoid of turbulent moments, but in the end, they complement each other quite well, resulting in a sapphic romance that ends being one of the highlights of the book.
It is true that the rest of the girls in the gang are not as fleshed as our duo, but Lee still gives them enough moments to make us care about them as part of the story.
This novel transports the reader to its setting, putting great effort into capturing post-colonial Singapore: a city experiencing fast change, a country with many nationalities, immigrants and languages; there are many descriptions capturing the culture and the historical details that give a sense of authenticity to the scenario. It is true that the gods behind the gangs are not as developed as I would have liked, but they still play a key role in the plot.
The pacing is kinda slow, as we have many scenes that could be defined as the everyday day of the gang, but from the half onwards, you don't have much time to breathe, as all the previous build up is used to finally unleash all the madness.
When They Burned the Butterfly is a great historical inspired fantasy novel, an intense plot against a backdrop of a Singapore changing; a love letter to Singapore that will be enjoyed if you like sapphic romance and grey characters. A novel that sets up everything for a second book in The Butterfly Duet that I can't wait for!
When They Burned the Butterfly is the first novel in the historical inspired fantasy series The Butterfly Duet, written by Wen-yi Lee, published by TOR. A novel that serves as a love letter to Singapore, taking the reader to the 70s, just after the end of the colonization, portraying the growing pains of a nation and its people; a setting that serves as the perfect scenario to an intense story of sapphic romance, street gangs and a vast underworld of selfish gods giving their support to those gangs.
Adeline, a lone Singaporean schoolgirl, can summon flames to her fingertips; a power whose scope she doesn't realize until her mother is killed in a home blaze. Searching for revenge, she discovers her mother was the leader of a girl gang called Red Butterfly; she soon immerses herself in it, passing from the world of rules and homework that was school to the dangerous gang world of Singapore's red-light district. A tumultuous time, as the power equilibrium is changing, and the existence of many gangs is threatened; they must navigate it while trying to get revenge.
In terms of characterization, much of the weight is put on the own Adeline. I personally enjoyed how she becomes ruthless, adapting to a new life, and also hardening as it is needed; but there's also space for a more human Adeline, and that's partly related to her bond with Ang Tian. She quickly becomes close to her, and the romance arises quite naturally; it's not devoid of turbulent moments, but in the end, they complement each other quite well, resulting in a sapphic romance that ends being one of the highlights of the book.
It is true that the rest of the girls in the gang are not as fleshed as our duo, but Lee still gives them enough moments to make us care about them as part of the story.
This novel transports the reader to its setting, putting great effort into capturing post-colonial Singapore: a city experiencing fast change, a country with many nationalities, immigrants and languages; there are many descriptions capturing the culture and the historical details that give a sense of authenticity to the scenario. It is true that the gods behind the gangs are not as developed as I would have liked, but they still play a key role in the plot.
The pacing is kinda slow, as we have many scenes that could be defined as the everyday day of the gang, but from the half onwards, you don't have much time to breathe, as all the previous build up is used to finally unleash all the madness.
When They Burned the Butterfly is a great historical inspired fantasy novel, an intense plot against a backdrop of a Singapore changing; a love letter to Singapore that will be enjoyed if you like sapphic romance and grey characters. A novel that sets up everything for a second book in The Butterfly Duet that I can't wait for!
Read
November 17, 20253.0 Stars
I have loved so many Asian inspired fantasy books so I wanted to request this one when it was being compared to some many of my personal favourites.
Overall, this was generally well executed but it failed to hit the emotional points that makes a story become a favourite. In my opinion, stories like this live and die with memorable characters like those found in the Green Bone Saga and the Poppy War trilogy and this one paled in comparison.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book for review.
I have loved so many Asian inspired fantasy books so I wanted to request this one when it was being compared to some many of my personal favourites.
Overall, this was generally well executed but it failed to hit the emotional points that makes a story become a favourite. In my opinion, stories like this live and die with memorable characters like those found in the Green Bone Saga and the Poppy War trilogy and this one paled in comparison.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book for review.
June 1, 2025
initial thoughts finishing this at midnight: this was stunning, gloriously beautiful world-building, and just as heart-wrenching as it was steeped in feminine rage—but the cycle never truly fucking ends, does it? okay. i’m too numb rn to give an actual review i’ll come back in the morning.
review: GO PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. thank you Net Galley and Tor Books for the eARC, i am now a numb & obsessed puddle. who’s killing the Butterflies & what’s going on in the underbelly of 1972 Singapore? i had such a fun time reading this, love an intense fantasy that will leave you reeling at the end & wanting more! the world-building was so intricate and intriguing—but how could i not love it when there’s: gangsters, different gods & fire magic, sapphics (i have no words them, my SEXY & beautiful babies😫), feminine rage, and a tattooing magic system (lol at me getting jealous every time someone got one). FMC, Adeline Siow is a FORCE & her character arc is just *chefs kiss* (reminded me of my loves: jude duarte & alex stern 🫶🏾). from the opening line alone, you’re gonna love her and be compelled to follow her journey into a shaky world, that oddly feels like home (found family trope anyone 😉). also i have to mention this: Adeline, Tian, and Pek Mun are SO Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx coded that i could not stop thinking about it.
short & sweet to avoid spoilers but this was so fiery (no pun intended), sexy and thrilling. Wen-Yi Lee, you have made a fan out of me & i cannot wait to reread again with the physical release (like i NEED it)!! 🔥💉🦋(deeply wanting to go dive into Jade City and The Poppy War now omg)
review: GO PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. thank you Net Galley and Tor Books for the eARC, i am now a numb & obsessed puddle. who’s killing the Butterflies & what’s going on in the underbelly of 1972 Singapore? i had such a fun time reading this, love an intense fantasy that will leave you reeling at the end & wanting more! the world-building was so intricate and intriguing—but how could i not love it when there’s: gangsters, different gods & fire magic, sapphics (i have no words them, my SEXY & beautiful babies😫), feminine rage, and a tattooing magic system (lol at me getting jealous every time someone got one). FMC, Adeline Siow is a FORCE & her character arc is just *chefs kiss* (reminded me of my loves: jude duarte & alex stern 🫶🏾). from the opening line alone, you’re gonna love her and be compelled to follow her journey into a shaky world, that oddly feels like home (found family trope anyone 😉). also i have to mention this: Adeline, Tian, and Pek Mun are SO Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx coded that i could not stop thinking about it.
short & sweet to avoid spoilers but this was so fiery (no pun intended), sexy and thrilling. Wen-Yi Lee, you have made a fan out of me & i cannot wait to reread again with the physical release (like i NEED it)!! 🔥💉🦋(deeply wanting to go dive into Jade City and The Poppy War now omg)
August 31, 2025
Dark and dramatic, this book will pull you into a world of fire and mystery.
Thank you to Tor Publishing and Goodreads for the advanced copy!
Thank you to Tor Publishing and Goodreads for the advanced copy!
September 28, 2025
I loved the flip-book / shuttering / stop-motion depictions of Singapore, watching buildings and lives and subcultures rise, fall, be reinforced, shatter. And having that as a backdrop to Adeline’s personal revolution as she goes from sheltered girl to gangster to more, walking streets that should be familiar but finding new buildings where old landmarks should be, was a really nice metaphor.
Unfortunately, I found the writing rather stiff. So while the plot and characters themselves were engaging, the flow of the sentences just worked against what could have been a really compelling novel. 480 pages isn’t a small book, but it isn’t a behemoth so it should have been much easier to get through. We could have had more descriptions of scenery, focused on making the other Butterflies outside of our core group feel more like individuals, even spent more time on the body horror (which was an unexpected potential delight) and other violence which often (ironically) allows for beautiful prose.
{Thank you Tor Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review}
Unfortunately, I found the writing rather stiff. So while the plot and characters themselves were engaging, the flow of the sentences just worked against what could have been a really compelling novel. 480 pages isn’t a small book, but it isn’t a behemoth so it should have been much easier to get through. We could have had more descriptions of scenery, focused on making the other Butterflies outside of our core group feel more like individuals, even spent more time on the body horror (which was an unexpected potential delight) and other violence which often (ironically) allows for beautiful prose.
{Thank you Tor Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review}
June 15, 2025
i am seated. the bookstore employees are scared and asking me to leave because its not 2025 yet but im simply too seated
Read
December 28, 2025Wildly mixed feelings on this. The beginning was amazing, the setting and magic system felt really cool and unique and I liked the character but man, the plot really needed some tightening up. So much of the book is just characters running from one place to have a conversation with some guy to another place to have a conversation with a different guy.
November 27, 2025
Screaming. Crying. Throwing up 😭
Did not finish
November 20, 2025Done at 30% A YA novel that pretends to be adult because they swear and lots of people die. You don't really care if they die because no connection have been made but die they do.
October 6, 2025
First things first: I cried reading this on the train. I avoided any and all spoilers because I wanted to be delighted, and I was, because I did not expect it to be so feminist, but I also found myself devastated and sacrificing sleep to read one more chapter. The concept and marketing seemed cleverly calculated to appeal (girl gangs with fire magic, alternate history Singapore, slow-burn lesbian romance, jibes at bitchy convent school girls) and I was afraid it was just bells and whistles, but I needn't have worried—the story overdelivered on the the substantial world-building and impressive character development.
Length-wise, this book felt like two books in one. I felt it could have worked well as a duology because the motives for the first half and the second half are quite different. The first half felt more like a back alley detective novel as they try to find out how Adeline's mother's died, but after they did, the number of casualties drastically increased and the second half started feeling like a locked room murder mystery. Tonally, the first half had more levity and the characters were still... intact, to put it euphemistically, while the second half was much darker and emotionally wrenching.
What I liked best was the commitment to portraying girls who did sex work without reducing their entire identity to just that. It was shown clearly that many of these girls had very few good options in life and they were just trying to survive. The representation is consistently neutral and respectful while still acknowledging the fact that many girls were being exploited for their vulnerability, viewed as expendable and interchangeable, which made them easy targets for all kinds of violence. The 'reveal' at the end is not hard to guess at if you understand how little people valued marginal women, even in a world where women could wield power, but it didn't make the revelation any less harrowing.
Length-wise, this book felt like two books in one. I felt it could have worked well as a duology because the motives for the first half and the second half are quite different. The first half felt more like a back alley detective novel as they try to find out how Adeline's mother's died, but after they did, the number of casualties drastically increased and the second half started feeling like a locked room murder mystery. Tonally, the first half had more levity and the characters were still... intact, to put it euphemistically, while the second half was much darker and emotionally wrenching.
What I liked best was the commitment to portraying girls who did sex work without reducing their entire identity to just that. It was shown clearly that many of these girls had very few good options in life and they were just trying to survive. The representation is consistently neutral and respectful while still acknowledging the fact that many girls were being exploited for their vulnerability, viewed as expendable and interchangeable, which made them easy targets for all kinds of violence. The 'reveal' at the end is not hard to guess at if you understand how little people valued marginal women, even in a world where women could wield power, but it didn't make the revelation any less harrowing.
Read
August 20, 2025DNF @ 25% after 2 weeks of attempting to get through this absolute SLOG. The plot is slow paced and the writing is clunky, dense and wordy, to the point where I often had to reread passages, which made my already-slow reading even slower.
I didn’t think the book was terrible, and I’m sure some people will enjoy it if they manage to push through it. The setting was unique, the MC was interesting, and the romance seems to have potential, from what I read.
BUT the story was slow paced and kind of uneventful, and sometimes the characters would just do things off-page when I wanted to see SOMETHING!! Like, what do you meeeean nothing interesting’s been happening and when y’all finally start trying to solve this damn murder, you’re just listing off things you’ve already done?? Omggggg……… 🙄🙄🙄 Also, the amount of characters that would just come in and out of the story was a little confusing, especially when combined with the insanely dense writing.
Overall: slog, which is a shame, because the Mafia Lesbians ™ were some of my most anticipated releases of 2025.
Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!
(review written on 20/08/2025)
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guess who got an arc??!!
(20/05/2025)
I didn’t think the book was terrible, and I’m sure some people will enjoy it if they manage to push through it. The setting was unique, the MC was interesting, and the romance seems to have potential, from what I read.
BUT the story was slow paced and kind of uneventful, and sometimes the characters would just do things off-page when I wanted to see SOMETHING!! Like, what do you meeeean nothing interesting’s been happening and when y’all finally start trying to solve this damn murder, you’re just listing off things you’ve already done?? Omggggg……… 🙄🙄🙄 Also, the amount of characters that would just come in and out of the story was a little confusing, especially when combined with the insanely dense writing.
Overall: slog, which is a shame, because the Mafia Lesbians ™ were some of my most anticipated releases of 2025.
Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!
(review written on 20/08/2025)
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guess who got an arc??!!
(20/05/2025)
January 24, 2025
wen-yi lee fan club
Want to read
November 19, 2025SORRRYYYYYY DID I JUST READ 'for fans of jade city + poppy war' AND 'sapphic' ????? HAND IT OVER NOW.
November 25, 2025
beautiful writing, intricate historical fantasy worldbuilding. the pacing and plot was a little slow and directionless at times but the characters were very compelling !
November 17, 2025
i had really high hopes for this one but ultimately it felt like it was all over the place.
i was excited for the premise - it sounds right up my alley. i think if the main characters were older, this would have been more enjoyable as i was painfully reminded of the age of the main characters in nearly every conversation. the pacing was unbearably slow which didn't allow for much character development. the magic in this world was a bit confusing and perhaps part of the reason for that is because it was hardly touched upon. not a lot of expanding on the gods or their powers. because of that, this felt more like a historical fiction with just a drop of fantasy, when i was expecting a really action packed, high adrenaline type of story.
there were a ton of side characters, none of which are important or add to the plot in any way. for example, there a moment where our main character doesn't have money to pay for a meal, goes out to the sidewalk and happens to run into someone she used to know from the past who doesn't recognize her, steals his wallet just to get money to pay for the food. why not just have her steal from a random stranger? we didn't need the backstory lol. and that's only one of a few times it happens where side charcaters get introduced for absolutely no reason, only to not ever show up again in the book.
i was a bit gagged when we finally got to the crux of the story. i finally got the action and adrenaline i was looking for but it was shortlived. didn't care for the ending either.
i will say though, i think the author has a lot of potential! the ideas and the writing was there, just needs a bit of work to really execute all of it in a more cohesive way.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc!
i was excited for the premise - it sounds right up my alley. i think if the main characters were older, this would have been more enjoyable as i was painfully reminded of the age of the main characters in nearly every conversation. the pacing was unbearably slow which didn't allow for much character development. the magic in this world was a bit confusing and perhaps part of the reason for that is because it was hardly touched upon. not a lot of expanding on the gods or their powers. because of that, this felt more like a historical fiction with just a drop of fantasy, when i was expecting a really action packed, high adrenaline type of story.
there were a ton of side characters, none of which are important or add to the plot in any way. for example, there a moment where our main character doesn't have money to pay for a meal, goes out to the sidewalk and happens to run into someone she used to know from the past who doesn't recognize her, steals his wallet just to get money to pay for the food. why not just have her steal from a random stranger? we didn't need the backstory lol. and that's only one of a few times it happens where side charcaters get introduced for absolutely no reason, only to not ever show up again in the book.
i was a bit gagged when we finally got to the crux of the story. i finally got the action and adrenaline i was looking for but it was shortlived. didn't care for the ending either.
i will say though, i think the author has a lot of potential! the ideas and the writing was there, just needs a bit of work to really execute all of it in a more cohesive way.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc!
October 27, 2025
potential wasted on an fmc that tried too hard to be fang runin wannabe and a clunky, boring, and long-winded storytelling lol
January 25, 2026
3.75
The saying that things come in threes ended up being true for my january lineup. Not only because I've read three books this month but because all of them ended up being three star mid-tier books.
It's really disappointing because at first, I was hooked by this book. The mystery of Adeline's mother's death + the magic system, the gang wars and the queer romance really sold this one for me and, at first, I was devouring each chapter like it was a delicious noodle soup.
Up until the 50% mark, I was ready to give this four stars. Sadly, after the halfway mark, the book drops in quality and seems to only get worse. And, the book that promised not to be “bury your gays” but ended up being just that. More on that later.
So, I've pretty much talked about what I liked, but to be specific: this book was definitely a love letter to Singapore and the author did a wonderful job at exploring in depth the people, the culture, the wars that shaped them and how it affected those living there. I liked Tian and Adeline's romance, albeit it wasn't anything jaw-dropping like I'd hoped it'd be. I liked some of the side characters, the action scenes and I found the magic system to be very intriguing. I found it interesting that their magic came from a god and that they needed a conduit to link themselves to the power granted.
But that's where my praise stops, unfortunately. Honestly, I'm bummed. I hate when books let me down like this because I wanted to give this a higher rating. I don't know how the author managed it but she, in my opinion, completely fumbled the second half of the book.
✗ The pacing was horrendously slow. Yes, the first half of the book was slow but I sort of let it slide since world building and setting up the story is important. But once I clocked around half of the book, I was painfully surprised to find that the story was still ambling along. And, the gripping murder mystery and gang warfare was overshadowed by a plot that felt more historical fiction/coming of age-but we'll get to that later. Even the faster paced moments only momentarily saved me from falling asleep, but they weren't enough in the end.
✗ The plot was some fucked up frankenstein of a thing. It started off coherent enough with Adeline finding her mother dead and finding the circumstances surrounding it to be suspicious. She wanted answers so she joined the Butterflies, a girl gang who can summon fire in the palm of their hands, after finding out her own mother was Madam Butterfly the conduit for Lady Butterly, their ravenous god. It seemed like this was going to be MY book, but the plot unfortunately embarrassingly (and clumsily) splintered. Not only were there a million different characters being introduced to us but the plot became jumbled and incoherent.
Adeline and Tian would often hop haphazardly from place to place, chasing clues surrounding the drugging of the brothel girls who were mysteriously dying in groteque manners. That subplot was interesting to begin with but it became muddled somewhere during the middle section and never managed to straighten itself up. By the time that Adeline's mother's killer was revealed, I was confused and bored. I did my best to pay attention, but for some reason I just couldn't grasp what the fuck was even going on. I didn't fully understand why this person did it only it was something to do with their gods and I found all the gang politics to be exhausting and mind-numbingly confusing. I'm going to put it down to the author not explaining shit enough because I'm VERY attentive.
✗ No one was ever sad? There were some major character deaths in this book and it seemed like no one ever gave two shits about it. Again, zero spoilers but there's this quite significant character who dies partway through the book and, while they were given a funeral, the character's who were close to this person only ever seemed mildly aggrieved rather than devastated which was... odd. I can't tell if this was done purposefully to reflect the inner conflict of certain characters-especially in a world steeped in violence where showing your weaknesses is fatal, or if the author herself didn't care about the characters' deaths and it ended up crossing into the story. Probably the latter.
✗Identity crisis. I breifly mentioned this in the pacing section, but this book did not know what it wanted to be. It started off as an urban fantasy with a murder mystery driving the plot but then simmered into more historical fiction with all the in depths passages about religion, gang wars etc and then finally it became this mushy coming of age novel that felt jarring from the first half of the book. I know it's not right to compare novels, but one of my favourite Urban fantasy series' The Green Bone saga excells in managing to carefully craft a complex yet coherent story about family, war and gang violence. The reason I bring up books like Jade City is because When they burned the butterfly does have some striking similarities such as found family, gang violence, drug abuse and a unique magic system set in an urban fantasy world. But where The Green Bone Saga soars, When They Burned the Butterfly only managed to scrape the tip of the surface and handled many of its components clumsily at best and horrifically at worst. Damn, now I desperately want to read TGBS again...
✗ The ending. What even WAS that ending? I saw another review praising it and I'm convinced we did not read the same book. I won't spoil it but it was very "bury your gays". Which was very disappointing, and hurtful, since the author's note made it seem like the queer relationships were going to be handled with the care and attention they rightly deserve. But no. We got a tragic ending that felt stitched together and also ended abruptly. I didn't even cry. That's how boring and disconnected I felt in the end. Which is saying something because sad endings ALWAYS make me cry. I think I was actually just relieved it was over.
Please let February be a better month, I beg.
The saying that things come in threes ended up being true for my january lineup. Not only because I've read three books this month but because all of them ended up being three star mid-tier books.
It's really disappointing because at first, I was hooked by this book. The mystery of Adeline's mother's death + the magic system, the gang wars and the queer romance really sold this one for me and, at first, I was devouring each chapter like it was a delicious noodle soup.
Up until the 50% mark, I was ready to give this four stars. Sadly, after the halfway mark, the book drops in quality and seems to only get worse. And, the book that promised not to be “bury your gays” but ended up being just that. More on that later.
So, I've pretty much talked about what I liked, but to be specific: this book was definitely a love letter to Singapore and the author did a wonderful job at exploring in depth the people, the culture, the wars that shaped them and how it affected those living there. I liked Tian and Adeline's romance, albeit it wasn't anything jaw-dropping like I'd hoped it'd be. I liked some of the side characters, the action scenes and I found the magic system to be very intriguing. I found it interesting that their magic came from a god and that they needed a conduit to link themselves to the power granted.
But that's where my praise stops, unfortunately. Honestly, I'm bummed. I hate when books let me down like this because I wanted to give this a higher rating. I don't know how the author managed it but she, in my opinion, completely fumbled the second half of the book.
✗ The pacing was horrendously slow. Yes, the first half of the book was slow but I sort of let it slide since world building and setting up the story is important. But once I clocked around half of the book, I was painfully surprised to find that the story was still ambling along. And, the gripping murder mystery and gang warfare was overshadowed by a plot that felt more historical fiction/coming of age-but we'll get to that later. Even the faster paced moments only momentarily saved me from falling asleep, but they weren't enough in the end.
✗ The plot was some fucked up frankenstein of a thing. It started off coherent enough with Adeline finding her mother dead and finding the circumstances surrounding it to be suspicious. She wanted answers so she joined the Butterflies, a girl gang who can summon fire in the palm of their hands, after finding out her own mother was Madam Butterfly the conduit for Lady Butterly, their ravenous god. It seemed like this was going to be MY book, but the plot unfortunately embarrassingly (and clumsily) splintered. Not only were there a million different characters being introduced to us but the plot became jumbled and incoherent.
Adeline and Tian would often hop haphazardly from place to place, chasing clues surrounding the drugging of the brothel girls who were mysteriously dying in groteque manners. That subplot was interesting to begin with but it became muddled somewhere during the middle section and never managed to straighten itself up. By the time that Adeline's mother's killer was revealed, I was confused and bored. I did my best to pay attention, but for some reason I just couldn't grasp what the fuck was even going on. I didn't fully understand why this person did it only it was something to do with their gods and I found all the gang politics to be exhausting and mind-numbingly confusing. I'm going to put it down to the author not explaining shit enough because I'm VERY attentive.
✗ No one was ever sad? There were some major character deaths in this book and it seemed like no one ever gave two shits about it. Again, zero spoilers but there's this quite significant character who dies partway through the book and, while they were given a funeral, the character's who were close to this person only ever seemed mildly aggrieved rather than devastated which was... odd. I can't tell if this was done purposefully to reflect the inner conflict of certain characters-especially in a world steeped in violence where showing your weaknesses is fatal, or if the author herself didn't care about the characters' deaths and it ended up crossing into the story. Probably the latter.
✗Identity crisis. I breifly mentioned this in the pacing section, but this book did not know what it wanted to be. It started off as an urban fantasy with a murder mystery driving the plot but then simmered into more historical fiction with all the in depths passages about religion, gang wars etc and then finally it became this mushy coming of age novel that felt jarring from the first half of the book. I know it's not right to compare novels, but one of my favourite Urban fantasy series' The Green Bone saga excells in managing to carefully craft a complex yet coherent story about family, war and gang violence. The reason I bring up books like Jade City is because When they burned the butterfly does have some striking similarities such as found family, gang violence, drug abuse and a unique magic system set in an urban fantasy world. But where The Green Bone Saga soars, When They Burned the Butterfly only managed to scrape the tip of the surface and handled many of its components clumsily at best and horrifically at worst. Damn, now I desperately want to read TGBS again...
✗ The ending. What even WAS that ending? I saw another review praising it and I'm convinced we did not read the same book. I won't spoil it but it was very "bury your gays". Which was very disappointing, and hurtful, since the author's note made it seem like the queer relationships were going to be handled with the care and attention they rightly deserve. But no. We got a tragic ending that felt stitched together and also ended abruptly. I didn't even cry. That's how boring and disconnected I felt in the end. Which is saying something because sad endings ALWAYS make me cry. I think I was actually just relieved it was over.
Please let February be a better month, I beg.
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